The Dickinson press., 1887-08-20
A CONSCIENTIOUS UNCLE

q
meeting of the Criterion club, but it was an
earnest one. There was noticeable absence
Of undue levity, and the exchange of that
meaningless persifage SO common when gen
tlemen of social predictions congreg,te was
as if by common consent tabooed. The meet
ing was OIL the Monday evening after tile
memorable dry Sunday of May s, 1887.
Whether the somewhat subluel tone of the
club was due to that great metropolitan phe-
nonlenOn the historian of the club does not
presume to say. But he has his opinion, and
it Is one which no amount of evidence to the
contrary can change. The exhibition lunch
on the caterer s sideboard seemed more srunk
by age than usual, and showed SO plainly the
need of the renovating hand of the property
man that there was no danger of any person,
present for the first time, committing the error
once made by visitor, WHO, looking about the
apartments, sought to sample the Saratoga
chips, tie English cheese, and the tempting
ham, apparently just i'll its first slicing down
to the bone. The visitor was not aware of
the fact that the layout was gift from Shed
Shook and Jim Collier on their retirement
from the management of the Union Square
theatre some years ago, and n relic of the
stage properties under that management
When Shakespeare wrote, Gage cannot
wither nor custom stale its infinite Variety"
he had not this bric.n- brac lunch of the Cri-
telion club OH the line of his prophetic
vision. And OH Monday night it showed SO
palpably the need of retouching that Caterer
Collins humanely covered it with cloth and
hid it from the IMPLYING glare of the gas
light above it.
III the members present." by and by spoke
up Brother Hal Young, late of Cincinnati,
"would be pleased to hear a story i'll which
there is no extravagant Straining after either
lutlicrous or all ultra dramatic effect, in
which will not attempt to WOO the comic
muse nor linger i'll doleful daliance with sad
eyed tragedy, and in the telling of which
truth will be my prompter, they have only to
signify their pleasure and Ill let her go,n
No one said he would be pleased to hear
the story, but every one said to Brother
Young that he might as well let her go.
sit can't be any worse than yesterdays
was" said the caterer
And so the story began.
"If there ever was conscientious man."
said Brother Young, "that man was my
Uncle Reuben Rashley. He was preacher
Then you might say: "A preacher! Why
shouldn't he be CONSCIENTIOUS! But I've
known preachers in my time, gentlemen,
who were not so overwhelmingly burlenetl
with conscientiousness, after all. But my
Uncle Reuben was all conscience, so to speak
could tell you chapters of incidents illus
trating his exceeding conscicntiousness Ho
would never eat fish or Strawberries for
breakfast OH Monday, fearing that they
might have been caught or picked
on Sunday. Once he married u
young couple, and the bridegroom
gave him 50 us his fec. AT that time my
uncle was very poor, md lie was in great
need Of s3 to buy actual ncccssaries; but an
hour or so after receiving the fee lie learned
that the mnn who had paid it to him had
sold load of potatoes to saloon keeper in
thu place, and my uncle was fearful that tho
S. was some of the money tho saloon keeper
had made by selling beer that he told me
himself that he intended to return the fec to
the young man at once; and, do you know,
the fellow was mean enough to deny ever
having received the money back when men,
toned it to him afterwarl i'll boasting Of my
uucle's conscicntiousness.
sWell, that was the way my uncle felt
about things. He was preaching in u little
town, at a small salary. While he was in
that town an old classmate of his in college
camc to sec him. The classmnte was canvass
ing for subscribers to u religious magazine,
around and made personal appeals for him.
More than loopeople subscribed, and at my
ullcles suggestion paid the money in advance
The classlnatc Went away. The magazines
were to commence coming i'll few days
They never commenced. That was Il great
blow to my uncle, and when one day he over
heard one of the merlba IFS of his church say
to another that if the dominic got less than
half of the amount the canvasser collected he
was fool, it was more than he could hear.
and be resigned at once. He went away, and
some of his congregation were heartless
enough to say it was pity he forgot to re-
tur. the s25 advance lie had received On lis
salary, when I've often heard my uncle say
he had hard work to get money from the
church ut all.
"The town he went to from the unapprecia-
tive place he SO Indignantly left was n large
town. There was church of his denomira-
tion there which had just been built. There
was debt on it, and it had no pustor. NY
uncle consented to take charge of it and see
what he could do. Among the members Of
the church was all eccentric old gentleman of
the name of Jason Horn. He was worth
about 5000, and was a bachelor with two
nephews, who expected to inherit his wealth.
About six months after my uncle took charge
of the church old Horn fell i'll. During the
first few days OF his illness he declared that
be would not leave his money to any one who
was not member of the church. His
ncphews were neither of them church men,
bers nor attendants, but after they had heard
their uncles declarations they suddenly be-
came deeply interested in religious matters,
and the first thing the town knew the two
prospective heirs of old Jason Horn lad
yxl.-
members.
1.-TWO months after Horn was taken ill he
died, but before lie died he sent for my uncle,
bis two nephews and his lawyer They ali
met around his bed; the lawyer produced
man, read it. 1t was Horns last will and tes-
lament. 1t bequeathed s., 600. in the form of
check, to pay the debt Oh the church Then
it declared that the testator had become dis
gusted with his nephews for joining the
church simply to insure their legacy, and so
the testator's will was that all the rest of his
money, amounting to s23, 900 in bank bills
his entire property having been converted
into cash by his lawyer-should be buried
with him. Soon after the will was read the
old man died. and it was the first instance on
\ record that man ever listened to the read
ing of the provisions of his OWL will, to ell
force them by his dying word of mouth as
?well.
"Great excitement followed The nephews
contested the will while the old man lay dead,
but the surrogate said its provisions must ha
carried out, but that the contestants could
so OH with the proceedings, and if the case
was decided i'll their favor eventually they
could have their uncle disinterred and gather
in tile wealth that he had chosen as lining for
his coffin. Old Horn was buried and his
s35.Ooo with him. The nephews hired men
to witch the grave night and day to guard
against its being robbed, and the curious
people flocked to this remote burying ground
daily to see the mound beneath which for
tune had been placed to feed the worms.
MY uncle's conscientiousness had already
made u great impression on his people. The
check for $4,000 which had been left to pay
tho debt OIL the church was drawn OH bank
in neighboring town five miles away. 1t
was made payable to the church trustees or